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Summary
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Real Thing, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Reality, Artifice, and Art
Class in England at the End of the 19th Century
Money, Identity, and Class
Summary
Analysis
A servant announces the arrival of a gentleman and a lady into an artist’s home and studio. As soon as the artist sees this aristocratic couple, he assumes that they are going to ask him to paint their portraits, as they look very elegant and are wearing fine tailored clothing. The couple look so distinguished, in fact, that the artist reflects that he would have thought they were famous, if not for the paradoxical truth that the most illustrious-looking people are the least likely to be people worth knowing.
Both the servant and the artist immediately identify the man and woman who arrive as a gentleman and a lady based on their manners and the clothes that they wear. The superficiality of these identifiers make clear the distinctions of class in England at the time the story is set. The artist’s assumption of the couple’s purpose in coming to see him show two things: one, that the artist sees himself as a portraitist; and two, that there is a basic understanding of how the classes are likely to interact, with the aristocrats at the top. However, the fact that “the most illustrious-looking people are the least likely to be people worth knowing” suggests that the social ideas around value in this time are shifting, and not to the aristocrats benefit.
Themes
The gentleman and the lady are very awkward and do not say anything for a few moments. The artist takes this time to look them over, noticing that, while they are very well-dressed, they have an “air of prosperous thrift.” At last, the woman speaks, explaining that Mr. Rivet sent them, and had said that the artist would be “the right one.” The artist responds that he does his best for people who come to him to sit. They begin to discuss payment, and quickly realize that there is a misunderstanding. The lady clarifies that they are not hoping to get portraits done—which is what the artist had assumed—but to be used for the artist’s illustrations.
The couple’s polite shyness isn’t just embarrassing; it’s impractical, which suggests that their well-mannered behavior hurts them more than it helps. While they are silent, the artist analyzes the lady’s clothing, which shows a few more hints of who they are. He notes their “air of prosperous thrift,” which means that they are stretching their money—they are keeping up appearances, but the strain of doing so is beginning to show. This description could be applied to the aristocracy of the late Victorian period more generally.
Themes
The artist now realizes the lady and gentleman’s purpose in coming to his studio: they wish to be models for the commercial illustrations that he creates for story books and periodicals. Although he dreams of becoming a famous portrait painter, he relies on these illustrations to support himself. He is disappointed to hear that they intend to be hired by him, as opposed hiring him. He also regrets that he won’t have the opportunity to do their portrait, as he had already decided exactly how he would portray them, even though they probably wouldn’t have enjoyed his representation of them. Overall, he is surprised—his guests look too wealthy and elegant to be working as models.
Suddenly, the artist’s expectations are flipped. His guests are expecting the artist, a middle-class professional, to employ and pay them, aristocrats, for their services, which is a complete reversal of the traditional social norm. Aristocrats are the class that traditionally holds most of the wealth, so it is highly unusual that they would seek employment from one of the lower classes, who, in turn, usually rely on aristocrats for money. This employment role-swapping has disappointed the artist, who relies on wealthier people to commission him to do the work that he really enjoys, which is painting portraits. Unfortunately, the artist’s financial situation limits his chance to achieve his dreams of being a famous portrait painter. But he is versatile in his skills and is able to support himself with a side-job of making illustrations for various books and periodicals. Aside from money, he also regrets not having the chance to paint the couple’s portrait because he has already “seen” them in an artistic sense. In other words, he has already decided how he would have portrayed them in such a piece of art. He clarifies that the couple probably wouldn’t have liked his depiction of them, which implies that he wouldn’t have simply depicted their physical appearance, but instead would have tried to capture a feeling that they inspired in him.
Themes
The lady and gentleman admit that they haven’t had any prior experience as models, but they think that they would be great for illustrations. The gentleman repeatedly references the couple’s urgent need to do something, despite the awkwardness of the situation. The artist decides that he may as well get to know them better, so they introduce themselves as Major Monarch and Mrs. Monarch and inform him that they have lost their fortune and have very little money to live on.
That the couple’s last name is “Monarch” further establishes that they can be seen as symbols for the entire aristocratic class. Meanwhile, the artist now finally understands why the Monarchs are looking to work as models: they’ve lost their wealth and need to work in order to support themselves. The gentleman’s repeated remark regarding their need to do something shows that they not only need to work, but that they need to find purpose, too. Here, James is suggesting that the aristocracy, who are represented by the Monarchs, have lost of their purpose in modern society, although the reasons why aren’t clear yet.
Themes
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The Monarchs acknowledge that they are “not so very young,” but stress that they have excellent figures and could be used to represent the upper-class characters that the artist often has to depict. The artist analyzes their figures but finds that he is embarrassed to do, feeling uncomfortable that he is evaluating their physique as though they are “animals on hire or useful blacks.” Mrs. Monarch walks about the room, and the artist concedes that she looks “conspicuously and irreproachably ‘good,’” but he still is a bit confused as to why they came to him; he figures that they could have done much better in advertising. Still skeptical, the artist asks if they have had any practice as models, to which the Monarchs explain that they have been photographed extensively.
The Monarchs’ older age is another hint that aristocrats, as a class, are past their prime point of social relevancy. But their figures, and not their faces, are what the Monarchs believe will be useful to the artist, an assumption that suggests again that the aristocracy’s value is in form (manners, behavior, and customs). As Mrs. Monarch shows off her figure to the artist, he agrees that it really is perfect. As an aristocrat, her poise is exactly what people imitate when being “proper.” But the artist can’t bear to analyze them physically, the way he normally would with models, or, as he puts it “animals on hire or useful blacks,” two groups that the artist sees as lowly and utilitarian. The profound racism of his thinking, in which he groups Black people with animals and defines them by their utility, also shows that the artist is a prejudiced man who believes in a social hierarchy with Black people at the bottom and aristocrats on top. It makes him too uncomfortable to assess whether the Monarchs are fit for a job because they come from a class that is never judged on its economic usefulness. In addition, despite the Monarch’s fine appearance, the artist isn’t convinced that they would make good models. He can more easily imagine them in advertising, because in advertising everything is about how things appear. The implication of the artist’s thought is the belief that good art is not solely about how things look, but rather about capturing something beyond just looks: it is about interpreting reality, not just presenting it. The fact that the Monarchs equate photography experience with modelling further betrays their naivety of what models—and art—need to accomplish. They are accustomed to people wanting to document what they look like, but they have never needed to inspire feeling or suggest beyond appearance.
Themes
